THE ROLE OF INSURANCE INDUSTRY IN NIERIA ECONOMY: A CASE STUDY OF NATIONAL INSURANCE CORPORATION (NICON) AND UNITED NIGERIA INSURANCE PLC (UNIC)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Over the years, the Nigerian insurance industry has been regarded as the largest in African continent, and is among the largest leading market in the third world countries. The Nigerian insurance industry is ninety years old this year 2011. It started from 1921 when the Royal Exchanged Assurance (Nigeria) Plc was established in Nigeria.

The administration and accounting of claims were the main operations of the industry. The re-insurance sector was established in Nigeria with other three private re-insurance companies between 1983 and 1987 to supplement the activities of the government owned Nigerian Re-insurance Corporation Plc.

Insurance industry is a service industry which exists mainly to provide the insuring public with a system of protection against death and financial loss arising from accidental and unexpected events. Unlike bank, it operates under its own peculiar market system.

Though insurance plays a god role in the social and economic developments of the country, the truth still remains that the insurance industry has not taken adequate positive steps to present a good accounting for insurance claims to the public. There  has been several allegations of malpractices from different quarters against the industry in recent time.

According to Igbo (1999), “Malpractices in the insurance industry cannot be quantified with any degree of accuracy”. This is basically because of the chain of reaction that is triggered off by even the smallest degree of allegation of malpractice perpetuated in the insurance industry, the sources notwithstanding.

As a result, the public have developed a poor and disarted accounting for insurance claims based on the fact that they (insurers) most often do not respond to genuine claims. Moreover, the insurers or the insurance industry delay in making payments and even refuse or repudiate liability in the occurrence of the insured risks. There has been incessant conflicts resulting from non-payment or compensation of the parties concerned by the insurance industry.

However, the different methods of perpetuating the ‘act’ differ in scope and dimension, and have had a negative effect on the image of the insurance industry. The overall effect is that the greater part of the public have lost confidence in insurance industry as regards to insuring their lives and properties. Secondly, the public is denied of new companies that give rise to employment. Thirdly, the shareholders of insurance industry will not benefit from their investments. Moreover, the claims of the insured are rather not settled at all, while the profit of the industry is consequently affected. And at the end, the economy as a whole suffers.

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The problem of the insurance industry res solely on clams administration and settlement; from the data of occurrence of a claim to the date it is issued for settlement. Many reasons have been advocated for this default which has culminated into several allegations of malpractice by the industry from the public, some of these reasons are the inability of the policy holder to comply with the policy condition by not notifying the insurer on the occurrence of the insured risk in the policy form. This is assumed to be as a result of inadequate enlightenment on the scope, functions and limitation of the insurance industry as well as the basic rules that govern their transactions.

Other reasons include lack of termed, educated and honest agents, brokers and loss adjusters. The insurance due to their seeming fraudulent nature, appears to intentionally repudiate liability because of minor breach of contact that need no disclosure. Section 20 of the Nigerian Marine Insurance Act 1961 states, “Every circumstance is material which would influence the judgment of a prudent insurer in fixing the premium or determining whether he will have the risk”.

 The allegations of the insurer against the insured ranges from the breach of utmost good faith to forging of documents to facilitate claims demand, the insurance of non-existent subject matter and double insurance. The insured on their own parts claim that the inadequate practices indulge by the insurers such as concealment of some basic facts necessary for one to enter a contact, delay in claim settlement and alteration of premium rates.

It is in the light of the forging that the researcher wish to inquire into the allegations of malpractice in the industry. And to find out the causes, consequences and cure of malpractices as alleged to the industry.  

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FACTORS MILITATING AGAINST EFFECTIVE ADMINSTRATION OF PRIMARY SCHOOL EDUCATION

 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

Education as a tool for the empowerment and sustainable development is indispensable both to the individual and at the state at large. This is one of the major philosophical objective that education is set to achieve as entrenched in the national policy on education (FRN 2004). Education is held as a major tool that can liberate a man from the fangs of properly managed and administered. Some of such poverty indicators which education tackles are identified by UBE (2002) to include ignorance hunger, lack, complex and social weakness among others.

          Education should be that, that guarantees the development of sterling qualities and skills that will enable them embrace that challenge of leadership and practical statesmanship in the affairs of this country Nigeria. It should also empower them towards economic self-reliance and minimum productivity for sustainable development, which tend to poverty eradication.

          All these cannot be achieved without proper administration by the administration of schools.

Administration as a field of practice which is traceable to the ancient times is according to facilities to Okeke (2002). The component part of management concerned with facilitating the accomplishment of the objectives of an organization through the systematic management of constraints and careful initialization of the 2 available limited resources which include human material equipment, supplies, finance, space and work techniques or technology administrators. Unlike the managers are implementers of policies rather than formulators of polices. They involved such elements or activities as planning, organizing, programming, staffing, budgeting, co-coordinating, reporting and evaluating but on a smaller scale when compared to management.

          Administration is very important in every organization and education as an organization cannot do without good administrators. The process of education in school system is than referred to as educational administration, school administration therefore is the planning and implementation of the school programme or activities through proper organization co-ordination, reporting, budgeting, staffing evaluating and so on.

          Education which starts from primary school according to Apera (1998) present an effective instrument for addressing issues of poverty, underdevelopment governance nd human rights among other social economic neds required to make the individual more receptive to development.

          In their own art Enoh, Banjama and Onwuka (1992) view primary education as the education given to children between 6 and 11 plus. It is the level of education in which the rest of education system built upon and because of this it need proper management and administration. It is believed that good administration in this lower level of education will bring, enforce the objectives of NPE (2004) on primary school which stated as follows:-

a.    Conscious effort to make the pupils inculcate permanent library, innumeracy and ability to communicate effectively,

b.    Lay a sound education as a basis for effective participation in and contribute to the life of the society.

c.    Mould the character and develop sound attitude in a child, the ability to adapt to child’s changing environment.

d.    Give the child opportunities for developing manipulative skill that the society within the limits of the child’s capacity. 

e.    Provide the child with basic tools for preparation and crafts of the locality.

The national policy on education of year 1981 introduces the 6-3-3-4 system of education, which includes a character and moral training, and development of sound altitude.

i.     Developing in the child the ability to adapt to his changing environment.

ii.    Citizenship education as basis for effective participation in and contribution to the life society.

However for primary education to achieve its desired goal depends on how it is being administered by the appropriate bodies. An administration has been defined as the process of organizing, planning, controlling, co-ordinating, commanding, communicating and directing human and material resources toward attainment of pre-determined goals.

          Educational Administration is therefore the process by which educated persons utilize their knowledge to plan, organize, command, co-ordinate, control, communicated and direct human and material resource to achieve educational set goals.

In the view of the need for proper administration of primary education in the country, the Federal Government promulgated decree No-96 of 1993 which established four bodies at the federal state, local government and community levels for the administration of primary education.

The national primary education commission established at federal level and the commission is responsible for disbursing money from foundational fund to the state primary board. The national fund for primary education contributed by the federal, state and local Government and the commission disburses the fund.

          The state primary education board established management of primary school in the state, recruitment, appointment, promotion and discipline of teaching and non-teaching staff on grade level of and above, posting and deployment of staff including inter state transfer. Assessment and payment of salaries and allowances of teaching and non-teaching staff.

          The authority is established for each local government area of the state. It is subject to the control of the state primary education board perform these functions, day to day administration of the primary school in its area of junction, making recommendation to the education board on promotion and discipline teaching and non teaching staff on grade level 07 and above in its area of jurisdiction payment of salaries, allowances and benefits to all the teacher and non-teaching staff undertaking general maintenance of primary school building and infrastructure its of jurisdiction etc.

Statement of the Problem

          Like any other form of administration, educational administration, be it at the primary, post primary, or tertiary level, is becoming increasingly difficult. The rapid increase in the number of schools, number of teachers and pupils at the primary school level, no doubt, pose problems to those responsible for primary education administration, primary education is the education for the children from 6-11 years and traditionally, the administration of primary school lies on the hands of head teacher or head master as popularly called, he takes whole responsibility of planning an co-ordinating of the primary school.

          It is observed that the head teacher is only one man and that concentrating the authority and administration in the hand of one individual only cannot lead to effective administration because the individual (headmaster) cannot do everything all by himself. Little wonder then that in the primary a lot of complaints and allegation of neglect of part of what of should be done, nonchalant attitude. Lack of concern for the needs of and interests of pupil and poor representation by the pupils followed by the counter critics from parents and general public on the low disciplinary attitude of the pupils are things that are seen no primary school today. Duties and powers should be decentralized for easy and effective administration hence the primary school administration is problematic and that calls for this study.

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EXAMINE THE COPING STRATEGIES UTILIZED BY PARENT WITH PHYSICAL AND MENTALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Background to the Study          

The contemporary world is filled with a never ending array of challenges and numerous factors are responsible for that, (Bennibor 2007). One of such challenges is the burden of caring for a physically or mentally challenged child. The birth of a normal child can have a significant effect on the family dynamics. For this reason, parents and other children in the family must undergo a variety of changes to adapt to the pressure of a new member (Hussain and Juyal 2007). They further stated that the birth of a physically or mentally challenged child to a family constitute a serious burden that can be very profound and pose obvious challenges to parents. These challenges could include the time required for extra care, increase financial demand, psychological and social burden among others.

Dykens (2000) described physical challenge or disability as lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard or norm which may involve physical impairment such as sensory impairment limiting sensory function, or motor impairment limiting mobility. Such physical disabilities include; deafness and dumbness, blindness, being crippled, or the malfunctioning of some parts of the body which limits the effectiveness with which a child can cope with the academic, social and emotional expectations of the school and community. Mental challenge on the other hand according to Hodapp and Dykens (2001) is a form of mental retardation marked by I Q (intelligent quotient) score of less than 75 and limited ability to carry out daily living skills. It includes children with Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism among others. A person is mentally challenged if he is unable to dress, feed, or otherwise care for himself or herself, to hold a job or carry out most of other tasks needed to get through an ordinary day.

Looking at the prognosis of physically and mentally challenged children, Staney (2000) stated that parents of physically challenged children know what their goals for a child should be. Based on that, they can draw on his or her many capabilities to help him or her achieve those goals. According to him, the motor and sensory systems are not the only capabilities children have and parents of physically challenged children can take advantage of even limited motor ability. A child, who has one arm that is working well, can reach for things and show what he wants. Even without good functioning arms, the child can convey ideas verbally or with signals if he has sensory deformities. He or she can be meaningfully engaged to enjoy life within the limits of his or her disabilities resulting in a good prognosis. The prognosis for children with mild to moderate mental retardation is  also said to be usually good since these individuals can often become self sufficient to some degree. However, they may require some educational, community, social, family and vocational support in order to establish routines that will help them to function within the limits of their challenges (Wilkipedia, 2007). The outcome is less promising for those with severe to profound mental retardation. Those that survive, sometimes lack the ability to perform basic routine activities like (toileting, bathing, feeding or dressing themselves including basic academic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic) indicating that the prognosis is poorer than for those children with physical challenges.

The presence of a physically or mentally challenged child in a family can lead to family disintegration if not properly handled, even in the happiest of families. It can cause a clash between parents, siblings, and individuals within a family to the extent that family cohesiveness may be threatened or even destroyed. Ambert (1999) stated that the everyday task of feeding, toileting, traveling and communicating are much more physically and emotionally demanding for parents who have children who are physically or mentally challenged. These challenges require that parents should adjust or cope using different coping strategies in order to be able to handle the situation or reduce the weight of the burden.

Coping involves using psychological resources and strategies that help to eliminate, modify, or manage a stressful event or crisis situation (Mc Cubbin & patterson 2000). It is the process of managing tasking circumstances, expending effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems and seeking to master, minimize, reduce or tolerate stress or conflict. The coping ability of parents with physically or mentally challenged children depends on several factors such as the amount and severity of pressure from individuals and the society, body constitution, culture, educational background, economic status, health predisposition, presence of social support system and religious background (Hargreaves & Tizard, 1999). Kwai-Sang Yau and LI- Tsang (1999) added that parents’ ability to cope with the stresses of raising their children with special needs depends on the family’s interpretation of the crisis event, family’s sources of support, resources available and family structure. Parents need to adopt coping strategies that will enable them manage the challenging situation of caring for their physically or mentally challenged children. The coping strategies utilized by parents was considered in four dimensions; Personal/family support coping strategy, external social support coping strategy, spiritual support coping strategy and denial coping strategy. Pritzalaff (2002) stated that Personal/Family support coping is the ability of individuals and families to actively engage in acquiring support from themselves and family members (e.g.having confidence in oneself and maintaining cooperation and oneness with partner). External social support means acquiring support from friends, neighbors, extended family, agencies, church group and institutions. Spiritual support is finding comforts in a higher supernatural belief system (e.g. having faith in God). Denial coping strategy includes efforts to deny, minimize or escape the stressful situation (e.g. I try to deny the existence of the problem).

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EXAMINE THE COPING STRATEGIES UTILIZED BY PARENT WITH PHYSICAL AND MENTALLY CHALLENGED CHILDREN

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Background to the Study          

The contemporary world is filled with a never ending array of challenges and numerous factors are responsible for that, (Bennibor 2007). One of such challenges is the burden of caring for a physically or mentally challenged child. The birth of a normal child can have a significant effect on the family dynamics. For this reason, parents and other children in the family must undergo a variety of changes to adapt to the pressure of a new member (Hussain and Juyal 2007). They further stated that the birth of a physically or mentally challenged child to a family constitute a serious burden that can be very profound and pose obvious challenges to parents. These challenges could include the time required for extra care, increase financial demand, psychological and social burden among others.

Dykens (2000) described physical challenge or disability as lack of ability relative to a personal or group standard or norm which may involve physical impairment such as sensory impairment limiting sensory function, or motor impairment limiting mobility. Such physical disabilities include; deafness and dumbness, blindness, being crippled, or the malfunctioning of some parts of the body which limits the effectiveness with which a child can cope with the academic, social and emotional expectations of the school and community. Mental challenge on the other hand according to Hodapp and Dykens (2001) is a form of mental retardation marked by I Q (intelligent quotient) score of less than 75 and limited ability to carry out daily living skills. It includes children with Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism among others. A person is mentally challenged if he is unable to dress, feed, or otherwise care for himself or herself, to hold a job or carry out most of other tasks needed to get through an ordinary day.

Looking at the prognosis of physically and mentally challenged children, Staney (2000) stated that parents of physically challenged children know what their goals for a child should be. Based on that, they can draw on his or her many capabilities to help him or her achieve those goals. According to him, the motor and sensory systems are not the only capabilities children have and parents of physically challenged children can take advantage of even limited motor ability. A child, who has one arm that is working well, can reach for things and show what he wants. Even without good functioning arms, the child can convey ideas verbally or with signals if he has sensory deformities. He or she can be meaningfully engaged to enjoy life within the limits of his or her disabilities resulting in a good prognosis. The prognosis for children with mild to moderate mental retardation is  also said to be usually good since these individuals can often become self sufficient to some degree. However, they may require some educational, community, social, family and vocational support in order to establish routines that will help them to function within the limits of their challenges (Wilkipedia, 2007). The outcome is less promising for those with severe to profound mental retardation. Those that survive, sometimes lack the ability to perform basic routine activities like (toileting, bathing, feeding or dressing themselves including basic academic skills like reading, writing and arithmetic) indicating that the prognosis is poorer than for those children with physical challenges.

The presence of a physically or mentally challenged child in a family can lead to family disintegration if not properly handled, even in the happiest of families. It can cause a clash between parents, siblings, and individuals within a family to the extent that family cohesiveness may be threatened or even destroyed. Ambert (1999) stated that the everyday task of feeding, toileting, traveling and communicating are much more physically and emotionally demanding for parents who have children who are physically or mentally challenged. These challenges require that parents should adjust or cope using different coping strategies in order to be able to handle the situation or reduce the weight of the burden.

Coping involves using psychological resources and strategies that help to eliminate, modify, or manage a stressful event or crisis situation (Mc Cubbin & patterson 2000). It is the process of managing tasking circumstances, expending effort to solve personal and interpersonal problems and seeking to master, minimize, reduce or tolerate stress or conflict. The coping ability of parents with physically or mentally challenged children depends on several factors such as the amount and severity of pressure from individuals and the society, body constitution, culture, educational background, economic status, health predisposition, presence of social support system and religious background (Hargreaves & Tizard, 1999). Kwai-Sang Yau and LI- Tsang (1999) added that parents’ ability to cope with the stresses of raising their children with special needs depends on the family’s interpretation of the crisis event, family’s sources of support, resources available and family structure. Parents need to adopt coping strategies that will enable them manage the challenging situation of caring for their physically or mentally challenged children. The coping strategies utilized by parents was considered in four dimensions; Personal/family support coping strategy, external social support coping strategy, spiritual support coping strategy and denial coping strategy. Pritzalaff (2002) stated that Personal/Family support coping is the ability of individuals and families to actively engage in acquiring support from themselves and family members (e.g.having confidence in oneself and maintaining cooperation and oneness with partner). External social support means acquiring support from friends, neighbors, extended family, agencies, church group and institutions. Spiritual support is finding comforts in a higher supernatural belief system (e.g. having faith in God). Denial coping strategy includes efforts to deny, minimize or escape the stressful situation (e.g. I try to deny the existence of the problem).